A. Overall Lesson Objective

B. Learning Competencies

C. Lesson

The last lesson covered the first key to who God is, which is His eternal nature. This lesson covers three additional keys to expand our understanding:

Man is generally proud of himself. In history, you can see men and women who are noted for power, authority, appearance, and wisdom, whether the application of these attributes is for good or for bad. You can see claims of wisdom in the writings of those who are considered the greatest, because they often claim to have extraordinary wisdom or their writings have stood the test of time. However, consider the God of the Bible. The Bible contains the oldest known account of creation, attributes that creation directly to God, and provides a written record that is older, more widely distributed, and more widely known than any other reference on earth. Even when compared to the wisest of the wise on earth, there is no comparison to the perspective that God claims in the Bible. Many scriptures show this difference in perspective through described events and by statement of fact. Let us read and understand the plain meaning of some examples:

🦕 CT? Using Genesis 1:27, who has charge over our original completed makeup and how does God explain this?

The imprint of God’s nature on man is a strong and unique statement about God’s action and our unique place in creation. Several lessons will illustrate this in a variety of ways. [Research note: in His image]

Luke 8:22-25 explains the difference in Jesus’ perspective compared to that of normal men in a real event. His disciples are frightened of imminent death by drowning in a storm, but Jesus is in command over the elements, like every other part of His creation. After He calms the storm, note that He challenges their very limited perspective with a question. Many other recorded miracles illustrate the same point.

Isaiah 55:8-9 is an excellent Old Testament example of the difference in perspective between man and God. Note the deliberate words in verse 9 that God chooses to give a sense of the difference. A person could make the same statement by examining other well-known events in the Old Testament, where it becomes abundantly obvious that God’s view of matters is not the same as ours, unless He gives us an ability to see from His perspective.

🦕 CT? Discuss this question: if God is Who He says He is, should He not be able to see above all yet be able to be in each situation also? As God, should He be able to see all things perfectly?

🦕CT? Should He not be able to see from overseeing our position, yet be able to identify with us completely? If He cannot do both of these, then is He Eternal God?

The Scriptures are also helpful here, because there are numerous examples where He provides a record of His abilities to see from a perspective that is much better than ours, yet He identifies completely with us. We will examine some of those in the lessons.

He reminds us quite often that how He sees and what He sees are different. Why is this so important to biblical creation? God provides Genesis as a record of creation, although many men consider it as a myth. A myth places God’s perspective on the same level as a man telling a fictitious story. Do the names of God and the difference in perspective in the scriptures we have reviewed suggest a fictitious story from a strange god with no real authority? The difference in perspective can become very personal, because God states things about man that can be uncomfortable. However, if His perspective is accurate as depicted in the Scriptures, then He knows our nature completely, because He designed it. It follows that He knows its weaknesses, failures, and the cause of them. This premise makes the biblical creation world view incredibly powerful, but also directly pertinent to us. This is radically different from an innocuous, foggy and unclear beginning of the universe that is often written as fact in textbooks that comes from a naturalistic perspective. The naturalistic view has no overseer and no one who identifies with our situations.

Many think that investigating the beginning of the universe is all a matter of scientific evidence, and they usually mean the sort of repeatable, experimental, observational science that has given so many benefits to mankind. But that is a serious misunderstanding. The sort of science that we normally think of is about the way the world works in the present. An elaborate series of laws appear to govern its present behavior. But no person was there at the beginning, and the past cannot be repeated or observed. (Even light coming from a distant star, though it started its journey in the past, is not showing us what the star looks like now.) The sort of scientific approach involved in studying past events is better called historical, or forensic science. It is used, for example, in archaeology, which studies clues in the present to try to reconstruct things about the past. It is also like a detective trying to solve a murder, for instance. The clues (the evidence relating to the past) can be very carefully and scientifically measured, but then someone must interpret this evidence, or tell a story about it. The same facts can be fitted into different stories. So, if all this occurred eons in the past, which is quite frequently called ‘deep time,’ who was there? No scientist was there. (We will talk about the ‘scientific evidence of creation’ in later lessons as comparisons to the biblical world view are discussed with respect to common subjects.) However, God was there, and in His wisdom, He provided a historical record of it in Genesis. Then the Genesis record is supplemented through many other key writers that He uses. We accept witnesses of events every day in courts or testimonies or news because it is historical evidence.

🦕 CT? Discuss the following questions and statements: If God says the Bible is the record of His actions, then its words become historical proof. Based on His authority, His difference in perspective and the repeated references to Genesis events, why would this not be acceptable historical evidence of creation, unless a person simply chooses not to believe God was involved or does not believe in any god?

When we, then, come to study the world around us, we will find that interpreting it based on this historical record of the Bible will make sense out of what we see. [Research note: Bible authority]

So, the biblical world view begins with a premise: God knows what He is talking about; He ensures that the events are recorded in the Bible; and He ensures that the record is available through the ages. His intention is to communicate information to us. He certainly does not need the detail to communicate with Himself; He already knows what happened since He is eternal. The end result is a sure record—one in which a person can place trust.

The plan of God is unusual because He permits us to choose to believe Him or not. He even records in Genesis the initial instances when people chose not to believe, but this is part of the biblical record that we will examine. In all honesty, most people do not believe God’s record of creation, but Christians do, or at least should. In the modern presence of the naturalistic world view that eliminates God, there is much pressure to ignore His record entirely. In view of His claimed authority in the Bible, this is all the more reason to examine it.

A major point can be deduced from the biblical world view, which depends on the Bible’s authority and the Author: the Record is the final and preeminent authority on anything it touches. Whether He expresses Himself in the manner of a historian, poet, scientist, or teller of parables, He does so with appropriate language to be clearly understood and appreciated. If what He says touches on things we consider science, then He is the authority from which we proceed. Whether He presents such information in a historical, poetic, or conversational manner is something He chooses. Consider a few scriptures that deal with the authority and place of the Scripture:

This brief subsection is like setting the starting line for a race in the right place. Consider this statement: He starts with Himself and He ends with Himself. We know this by His names, which we briefly examined. He is the “beginning and the end” or the “Alpha and Omega” (see Revelation 1:8 and 22:13).

🦕 CT? Is there anything outside of these words other than Him? Can there be anything outside of Him that He has not created or fashioned or made if He is Eternal God?

His eternal nature, including what He says or commands, does not depend on anything except Himself. If there is something else He depends upon, then we cannot trust Him as the ultimate and true Eternal God. Thus, the biblical creation world view begins and ends with God. We will examine this more thoroughly in the next lesson.

D. Assignment

List the action verbs and the objects of the actions in the following verses: Genesis 1: 1,3,4,7,16,26,27

E. Learning Activity

2 Kings 6:17-18 presents an excellent story of the difference in man’s perspective with God’s, unless God changes man’s ability to see. Students can form teams and act this out. This is a quick skit that can be done with little preparation. Each team may emphasize different things, but that will be part of the enlarged perspective that will develop. Time limit: 10 minutes.

F. Concluding Assessment

God’ s perspective, because He is Eternal, is wholly different than ours. While we have the imprint of His nature, we are still created and do not have His point of view. The record of His actions in Genesis is reliable history, but it was provided from God, because only He was there. He and His conveyed the information to faithful men, who wrote it down in the Record. Since He is eternal, He alone is the Author of creation.